Choke on the seeds
by Milady29
Summary: Set between 1x6 and 1x7. Hardy collapses and Miller is worried she is going to lose her supervisor, but when she finds out he knew about his condition, her concerns change into anger.


**This is my first Broadchurch fanfic. This fic takes place between 1x6 and 1x7 and kind of fills up the gap between the two episodes. I hope you will enjoy it and please do tell me what you think when you are done reading! As English is not my first language I am always open for critique that will help me on my spelling. Thank you and please enjoy.**

* * *

''Oh bollocks!'' Ellie hissed as her phone suddenly went off. Before she could even grab it, the dark shadow suddenly ran her way, pushing her aside. She crawled up, trying to follow the person before it was too late.

From behind another boat, Alec Hardy sprinted behind the shadowy figure, but before he came even close to catching up, he fell to the ground, clutching his chest, screaming in agony. He rolled onto his back, looking at the stars, wondering if it was the last thing he would ever see.

''Sir!''

Ellie Miller's face suddenly appeared over his. Other patrol cars neared and she yelled at them to call an ambulance.

''Stay with me.'' She said strict, trying to loosen up his tie.

As Alec was grasping for hair, trying to clutch his chest, Ellie just hoped that the ambulance would be here very soon. But here at the boatyard, she was fearing that it wouldn't be in time. With her hand on his neck, she could feel his heart was beating way too fast.

Each second seemed to take minutes. She hated seeing him in so much pain.

''hold on, hold on, help is on the way.'' She said as his hand grabbed her upper arm. More police officers were gathered around them now.

''Should we start CPR?'' One of the rookies asked.

''His heart is still beating! Give him some space!'' Miller said as she pushed the other officers away a bit, knew that all these people gathered around him so closely wasn't going to help.

''M- Mil-'' Hardy tried to say something.

''No, no don't speak.'' She said so concerned, wanting him to keep laying down and hold hold on, hold on before it would be too late.

Finally she heard one of the sirens and the ambulance arrived at the scene.

''Oh you are here.'' She said relieved as she backed off, giving them the space, biting her nails.

She didn't like Hardy, he was an ass. But now her heart was racing, worried about him. She couldn't lose him, not now.

She looked as the paramedics put him on the gurney, pushing it back to the ambulance and leaving then, rushing away.

Miller stood there for just a second, not sure what to do. Should she have gone along? No, Joe had told her so many times that sometimes people going along only sat in the way.

''Did you still catch the suspect?''

''No.'' The other police officer informed her and bummed she walked to the car.

How could Hardy just have a heart attack?

She tried to calm herself down, hoping he had made it as he had still been alive when going into the ambulance as she slowly made her way to the hospital, walking inside and asking for information, but nothing was known yes and she sat down in the waiting area, hoping there would be an update soon.

She was the only one about an hour later and a doctor suddenly stood beside her.

''Are you still here for mister Hardy?''

''Yes, is he okay?

''We shocked his heart back into normal sinus rhythm. It was a close call, but his heart is stable now.'' The doctor said then. Miller sighed relieved, so glad he had made it through.

''We are keeping a on him but we will move him to another room soon and keep monitoring him over night and his cardiologist will talk with him tomorrow.''

Ellie nodded, so glad that her superior was okay and that he didn't die on her tonight.

''Yeah, I just wanted to make sure he was okay.'' Ellie said as she got up, grabbing her purse as she thought this was her queue to leave.

''You can go see him.'' The nurse offered then, ''he just got moved to a room for the night.''

''I am not a relative.'' Ellie said as she wasn't sure.

''Well, I don't see anybody else here that looks like a relative...'' The nurse said then and at first Ellie wasn't sure what to do, but then she also figured that if he was awake, he wouldn't want to be alone, not so short after almost dying from a heart attack.

An arse as he was sometimes, he didn't deserve that.

She grabbed her phone from her purse then leaned against the wall as she called her husband. The boys would be in bed by long now and she had missed family dinner again.

Joe took the phone then and she explained the situation.

''I am just going to stay a bit longer, see if he wakes up, but I will try to be home in an hour.'' She promised Joe.

''Alright, see you at home.'' Joe said and she hung up the phone, slowly proceeding to walk into the hospital room.

Walking inside, she saw DI Hardy in the bed, but instead of finding this grumpy, angry looking man he always was, she found a sick, pale and poor looking man. But she also heard the sounds of his monitor and was just happy that he was still alive.

''You look like shit.'' She whispered softly, smirking, so glad he hadn't died on her tonight. He could be such an arse, so angry and in such a bad mood, but she was glad he had made it. If there was anybody that was going to solve this case, it was going to be him.

She stayed a bit longer, hoping he would take his rest and she would be back here tomorrow.

''How long will he have to stay?'' Ellie asked as she was on her way out.

''It's more of a question how long he will stay.'' The nurse said. ''He discharged himself after a few hours last time-''

''Wait, last time?'' Miller said surprised.

''Yeah, he was in here weeks ago, he had an episode of arrhythmia as well. Mister Hardy discharged himself. The cardiologist wants him to get a pacemaker, but mister Hardy doesn't want to get the surgery.''

Ellie nodded, trying to comprehend that Hardy had known all along. He knew he was sick, he knew he could get a heart attack and yet he had told nobody.

Angry she went home, her concern and care for him had changed into anger and frustration again.

Alec Hardy slowly opened his eyes the next morning, looking around dazed and confused.

She put the bag of grapes beside him.

He looked so poorly and sick but she was angry, angry that he hadn't told her that he was sick, that it had happened before and he had let nobody know. Did he know when he had taken his job?

''What are those?'' He asked weakly and she almost felt bad.

''Grapes.'' She stated the obvious then.

''What are these grapes for?'' He asked in his Scottish twang.

''Hoped you might choke on the seeds.'' She said dryly.

''They're seedless.'' He mumbled as he looked away - not sure which was more sour, the grapes or her face.

''Oh don't be a smartass now.'' She said. Although she was still angry with him, she was still glad he had made it through and he was being a smartass again. Some things would never change.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed and please let me know what you thought about it!**


End file.
